Let Down Your Hair
by thornsthatbite
Summary: Another version of Rapunzel! Things might get a little out there! Rated T! Thanks for reading guys! Just posted chapter 3! Also thanks for the reviews, let me know guys what y'all think, positive or negative is very much appreciated :)
1. Chapter 1

All she ever wanted was to meet someone else. Somebody she could talk to, a new perspective. Maggie was the only one she ever had to talk to.

"Rapunzel"

She could hear Maggie's calls to let down her hair. She sighed as she opened up the window and hooked her long heap of blonde curly hair around the protruding brass knob.

Maggie had brought flowers along with her normal gifts of water, bread and cheese. She talked on and on about her vegetables growing, the difference of this season from last.

Sometimes she would bring fabrics for Rapunzel to sew new clothes when Rapunzel had outgrown other gowns. Rapunzel's growing stage had ceased, she was now a full grown woman. She stood on the shorter side, at least she was taller than Maggie, slim yet curvy with her full chest. This was all too hard for anyone to notice seeing as she was high up in a forgotten tower in the woods.

No one knew she was here, well except Maggie of course.

"...but you know the tomatoes are looking great this year despite our onions. How do you like the peonies Rapunzel?"

Rapunzel snapped out of her trance she seemed to be in as she gazed out the window.

"Oh, they're wonderful Maggie."

"Rapunzel, is there something wrong?"

Rapunzel looked back out into the vast sea of trees. She already knew how this conversation would go. She would ask if she could go outside, Maggie would say it isn't safe for young girls. Rapunzel would say she turns 18 in a few months, Maggie would just say that she is still extremely young would have to think about it.

It would be easier to not say anything at all.

"Nothing, my stomach feels a little weird today." Rapunzel looked down, she did have a pit in her stomach. It wasn't a complete lie.

"Oh, well Darling, I will let you get some rest. Drink all this water. You hear me?"

Before she knew it, Maggie was gone, sliding down Rapunzel's hair, down the tower with such ease. She only did it every day.

Rapunzel had been in that tower as long as she could remember. Maggie was not her mother. Maggie had made this clear from the start. Her parents were beggars, in a city full of evil and crime. When Rapunzel's mother stole a loaf of bread from Maggie, Rapunzel was in her mother's arms. Maggie gave Rapunzel's mother the ultimatum of either the bread or Rapunzel.

She must have been hungry because Rapunzel had been with Maggie ever since.

Rapunzel didn't mind the tower itself. It was open, but not enough. She felt the tower would one day consume her. For a while she was restless but now was exhausted with hopelessness.

Most of time Rapunzel painted or read. Maggie brought her books sometimes, books were hard to come by according to Maggie but nevertheless Rapunzel had books. Those were a great escape, she was able to explore the world from her tower. Other times Rapunzel would sit by the window, she never realized she would be singing until she would have to catch her breath. Sitting in the breeze with the sun shining on her face was her bliss.

Maggie would always make fun of her singing, said she was off-key. Rapunzel never cared how she sounded so she let it roll off her shoulders whenever Maggie would say something unsavory.

Rapunzel unhooked her hair and pulled it back into the tower. She decided to braid her hair, this task itself normally took an hour. It demanded a lot movement and detangling. She sang as she divided three enormous strands.

When she finally got to the end of her hair, she tied a light blue ribbon to match her dress. It was her favorite dress, she had had it forever, always mending it when ripped or unthreaded. It went just past her knees with a full skirt, tight around the waist. Now that she was older her chest fit quite snug. She had one floor length mirror in her tower, not the clearest of mirrors having cracks and scratches but nevertheless showed the truth. As Rapunzel stood before her mirror, she saw a young woman with bright blue eyes staring back at her. She was no longer a child.

Rapunzel sat back at her perch by the window and gazed out into the unknown of the woods.

"Excuse me, Miss?"

Jerking out of her daze, Rapunzel looked down to see what appeared to be a young man. He had a sword wrapped to his belt and a brown horse next to him. With her heart racing, she shrank back immediately, hiding from the window.

"Hey come back! Where did you go?" The man laughed playfully.

Rapunzel inched herself away from the window, careful not to stand up so she would stay out of view. Curiosity itching at her feet, she stood for a brief moment, looking down again at the young man. He was very attractive, even from where she stood she could tell her was extremely tall and brawny. Her eyes widened and she ducked once again from the window.

"Hello? Miss?"

Rapunzel cursed and stood up slowly, squaring her shoulders in an attempt to appear tall and strong.

"What do you want?" She said shakily. Why couldn't she sound more assertive? She thought to herself.

The man smiled, a wave of comfort flowed through Rapunzel. She had never met another person besides Maggie. She felt swept off her feet gazing down at him, also terrified. Maggie warns her endlessly about men, saying they were animals, that they only wanted one thing.

"I just wanted to let you have a beautiful voice." He smiled again.

Rapunzel blushed. She opened her mouth to say something but found herself completely dumbfounded.

"What is your name?" He said with his hands on his hips.

She stared down contemplating what to do. She had two options, she could jump into her bed and hide... or talk to him.

"What is yours?" She cringed at the thought of Maggie finding out.

"My apologies, my name is Peter, Peter Haverville." He bowed, very proper. "Now what is your name?"

"Rapunzel" She blushed.


	2. Chapter 2

This can't be, Peter thought to himself. It had been far too easy, he had only been gone a short while, also, where was he?

At first when he left the palace, he was wandering around aimlessly. Balfour, his horse, was leading the way, south from the palace, past the Elven Wall. Not many men had passed the wall willingly. Peter didn't have a choice. He had just turned eighteen. He had to go, it was part of his father's plan, his destiny.

Peter looked up at this luminous creature high up the ancient tower. His father would finally stop calling him useless, he thought to himself. Peter just wanted to make sure his inheritance stayed intact, his father was a little angry with him when he decided to throw a masquerade ball with a string quartet last week. There was glitter everywhere. It was his eighteenth birthday, it was ridiculous he felt he had to defend himself for throwing it.

So, he started his quest two days earlier than planned, to get away from his father's wrath but also a few girls hadn't left the palace gates for days after the ball. One of them was sobbing when he and Balfour started out. Peter couldn't seem to remember any of their names, but he remembered dancing with them, maybe he kissed one of them. He also might've told one of the girls he loved them. Clearly that was the wine talking at that point but who really knew, Peter had a habit of telling people what they wanted to hear.

Balfour had led them to a stream after passing the wall. After a while, Peter had been lost in thought, it was quite nice actually. He thought about what he could do now that he was expected to be on his quest for two weeks in the Southern Woods. His father didn't even say goodbye, Peter never took it personal with his father though. There was a lot they didn't talk about.

It happened slowly, even in his daze he noticed after a while the sunshine trickled through the forest differently from before, as if the sun was pointing out a specific path for them. He and Balfour followed the sunlit path, until he heard the voice.

It was high pitched but not in an uncomfortable way, it was clear but deep as well. He had never heard a voice so lovely. It was as if he wasn't even thinking as he and Balfour wandered toward it.

Then he found the castle.

But was she it? Was she was the last light bearer? He never believed his father before but it was part of his family's burden to be able to detect them. Haverville was a pseudonym, he and his father were the last of the _Veril._ It was their duty to fight in secret against the dark forces on earth, the many creatures that roam in shadow. Peter had no problem believing in the soul ravaging bundles of hate constantly gnawing on humanity. Not at all, it was opposite. Peter had a hard time believing there was any good.

"Rapunzel, huh? That is unique." Peter laughed nervously.

She had a faint glow around her, it resonated honey yellow and sparkled at the edges. She was a light bearer. She was the key. He knew it.

"What are you doing up there, Rapunzel?" Keep her talking, he thought. How was he going to get her to come down? And then bring her back to Akrenon?

"What do you mean?" She asked so innocently, for a second he felt she was being mischievous, playing games, but he knew

"Well, are you all alone? Where is your family? What are you doing all the way out here?" He already knew her family was dead, he just had to think quickly.

"They will be back soon. They just went out to get milk." Interesting, Peter thought, she was lying.

"Right, getting milk, that makes sense." Peter looked at his feet. "Do you want to go for a walk?" He almost wanted to kick the ground for how stupid he sounded. He never thought past the part of finding her. First of all he never thought he would actually find her! No one else ever could. He had no idea how to get her to come down and go to Akrenon with him.

"No, I should go, my mother wanted me to do some chores... Maybe another time. Thanks." She was about to turn away.

"Hey! No that's ok! We don't have to go for a walk!" Peter never felt more awkward. Why couldn't he just talk to her? She was just a girl, he talked to them all the time.


	3. Chapter 3

Rapunzel had no idea how to talk to this young man, she could feel the heat in her cheeks rise as she uncomfortably looked down to him. She had never talked to anyone but Maggie, the only other knowledge of social queues were ones she read from books. For a while Maggie had brought a series of self help books from the old world, one of which had been filled with dating advice. It described to never answer a man directly, to ask a question instead of answering his questions. Maggie had laughed when she brought it at the time, saying it was irrelevant now, that she wasn't sure why she brought it in the first place but wanted Rapunzel to have as many books as possible.

Lying on the other hand had been something completely original when talking to Peter, she really had no idea how to talk about her situation being up in a tower with no way out, it felt a little embarrassing.

She had read a plethora of books being locked up in a tower. The books Maggie brought were a little random, she seemed to find certain genres at certain times. For a while all Rapunzel read were nonfiction books from a time period known as the 1900s, when a few wars had happened but more importantly the weapon had been created that only a century later had been the destruction of the old world. Rapunzel loved these books, they were her window out, some of these books terrified her. She remembered one specifically, an actual account of a young girl's experience being locked in an attic because of war. It resonated within her because she felt the same way, except she could sing, scream, stomp around all she wanted, it didn't matter, whereas this Anne girl couldn't exactly do that. She had to remain quiet.

Other books she read were fantasy, romance, and drama. One book she remembered was from the old old world before the technology rose and fell, a woman stuck in a war in love with a man who didn't love her back. Rapunzel loved this book, she could read it over and over again, Scarlet was the main character but her love interest Rhett, was who Rapunzel could swoon over for hours. These books gave her inspiration to tie her hair to the hook and drop down to the ground herself and start her life, look for her soulmate. She never could do it though. It was something she always thought about but could never actually do. Why? Why wouldn't she leave? She had everything she ever needed. There was no reason too. Until today, maybe this man was her soulmate, maybe he was looking for her, she thought to herself.

No, he was too handsome.

She wasn't sure if this was working, also she didn't really know what she wanted to come of this. Part of her did want to start fresh, leave the tower and run off with a beautiful man whom she just met. At the same time all she wanted was for him to go away so that she could breathe again. This was new territory for her, talking to strange men.

"Peter?"

A shout came across the field, Maggie was on her way back. She had more water with her, she must have been concerned about Rapunzel from earlier.

"Mom?" Peter blurted out. His mouth dropped as his entire composure changed within an instance, he hunched over and shifted the weight on his feet.

Rapunzel had no idea what was going on. This was beyond bizarre, or at least the most eventful five minutes of her life.

Maggie charged through the field of wheat leaving a wave of fluttering stalks wavering in her path. Her black curly hair whipped behind her face which was stone cold. Maggie went straight up to Peter and pulled him by the front of his shirt back into the forest out of the clearing, out of the sight from Rapunzel's perch up the tower. The horse looked up apathetically at Rapunzel and sauntered after them.

Rapunzel really had no idea what to think at this point, nor did she have any clue as to what was going on at all. Maggie had a son? Was that the reason Peter was here? Maybe he was looking for his mom, that was probably the sweetest thing she had ever heard of. Her stomach fluttered as she thought of him. Everything had happened so fast her heart hadn't stopped pounding.

This was it, Rapunzel needed answers and she needed to get out of this tower. Like Scarlet, she wanted to take charge of her life and she was going to do what was necessary to get answers. Looking into her mirror meeting her eyes, _Rapunzel, today you leave._

Luckily her hair was easy to gather together as she had just braided it yet that would mean it wouldn't be long enough for her to reach the ground, nevertheless she would have to cut it once she hit the ground or she would be forever tied to the tower because of her hair.

Fortunately she did have a knife and holster which should tuck into her breast when she did have to cut her hair. This was happening so fast. Rapunzel took a deep breath as she marched over to her window. With a deep breath, she tied the end of her hair into a knot on the hook, her hands gingerly looping the thick gnarly hair. Pulling the hair down as hard as she could, she made sure the knot was secure enough for her safely slide down.

Taking another deep breath Rapunzel looked down to the ground, she could hear her heart beating as if a drummer was trying to burst through her chest. _Ok, you can do this, just go._

Without thinking further Rapunzel grappled her hair with both her hands and jumped through the window. Her hands burned as she slid down her braid, yelping out in pain and terror, she felt the ground would never hit.

And it didn't hit, as her hair wasn't long enough. She felt her body jerk up in a rigid motion, her scalp burned and she could feel some her hair ripping out of her head. She could see she was only a few feet from the ground. Grunting from pain but remembering her knife, she snatched it from her bosom, undressing it from her holster which fell to the ground as she seesawed her knife through her thick bread. It took longer than she thought it would to cut through it all but finally she felt the freedom from her hair, only for a moment until the ground hit.

Face down on the grass, Rapunzel slowly stood up, feeling extremely light headed but free. Her hands started to tingle as she shifted on each foot feeling the dirt between her toes for the first time. Looking down, and then all around her, Rapunzel felt tingly all over. She was giddy but also nauseous. Also her hands kept tingling which was an odd feeling.

"Rapunzel!?" It sounded like Maggie's voice until everything went dark.


End file.
